UK Has the 8th Cheapest Broadband Tariffs in Europe

Despite seemingly regular reports of widespread dissatisfaction with broadband speeds and prices in the UK, a new study has been conducted which shows that the UK actually has some of the best internet packages in the world.

The study revealed that the UK has the 8th cheapest average monthly tariffs for broadband in Europe, as well as some of the fastest.

Cable.co.uk conducted two separate studies, the first assessed the speed of 63m broadband packages in 200 different countries. The second, done in conjunction with BDRC Continental, ranked 3,351 broadband packages in 196 countries by price. In the speed test, the UK came out 31st in the world, putting it in the top 20% of countries, whilst the average cost of a broadband package per month is currently at $40.82 in the UK, ranking the country 63rd globally.

The price figures are available here  and updated on a live basis.

The speed figures are available here.

These two studies shows that broadband users in the UK are much better off than most globally, paying comparatively less than many countries for higher speeds of broadband. Whilst Iran tops the league table for the cheapest broadband in the world, with broadband packages coming in at an average of just $5.37 per month, the country suffers from much slower internet speeds – around 10 times slower than those in the UK.

The studies show a wide disparity in both the cost and speed of broadband deals worldwide, with Sub Saharan African countries coming out poorly in both tests. Broadband users in Burkina Faso, currently the country with the most expensive broadband, have to pay an eye-watering price of $970.02 per month for some of the slowest internet in the world, which is another three times slower than that of Iran.

Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.co.uk aimed to dispel myths surrounding the perception that UK’s standard of broadband is apparently poor. “In the UK there can be no doubt there is still a significant number of people who feel they are paying too much for a service that’s less than adequate, however the hugely popular narrative that the UK has awful, expensive broadband simply isn’t true” he said.

“These figures, along with the global speed measures we released in August this year, show the UK is not only in the top fifth fastest, but also in the top third cheapest in both the world and Western Europe. With a healthy, open marketplace offering very cheap broadband deals to everyone and so-called ‘superfast’ speeds to almost 96 per cent of homes, the UK is doing considerably better than the majority of countries around the world.”

A study conducted by Which? last month found that many homes in the UK have suffered broadband problems within the last year. Over half of the 1,700 respondents complained about various broadband issues ranging from price hikes, low speeds and frequent connection drop outs.

The most complained about broadband providers were Virgin Media and TalkTalk, followed by Sky Broadband and BT customers.

In spite of such reported performance issues, Cable.co.uk say that UK broadband customers are paying less for broadband than residents in European countries such as Ireland, Spain, Greece and the Netherlands.

Italy currently has the lowest broadband prices in Europe, followed by Germany, Denmark and then France, while the UK sits in 8th place out of 28 European countries.

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